BSNL expects to save Rs 600 cr monthly after 78,569 employees opt for VRS

New Delhi: State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) expects to save as much as Rs 600 crore monthly on wages after nearly 79,000 employees opted for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) option and is now eyeing monetisation of company-owned land assets worth Rs 73,000 crore in order to turn profitable. “We are saving up to 50% or Rs 600 crore monthly on employee cost. In the two months of February and March in this fiscal, savings of nearly Rs 1,300 crore are coming to us,” BSNL chairman, Pravin Kumar Purwar, told ET.

The state-owned telco with a revenue to wage ratio of 75% had floated a scheme for voluntary retirement after the Cabinet’s approval in October this year to bring down its huge salary burden.